The Color of Love is Greene
by melinda08
Summary: AU...the prison gang has reunited, and there they decided to pay tribute to the man who'd taught them so much about being human. Some M/G but other characters factor in. short story


They'd found each other. After all they'd been through- the cold and lonesome nights, the heat of the day, the physical and emotional pain they'd each been carrying around since that day at the prison, the thought of the group reuniting had seemed so difficult to process, to even let them think about. But there they were, and now with Glenn and Tara finding the group, perhaps, just perhaps, the healing could begin.

Maggie had found some shelter there, a remnant of a basement of a church, and she'd stayed there, only coming out for food and what water they could find for her. No one blamed her for isolating. She'd lost her father in the most horrific way possible, and until that moment, she had thought she'd lost her love of her life. If there was any life in her left, no one could much see it. But there, standing above her, tired and worn and beaten down, was Glenn.

"Maggie..." Glenn whispered, his voice choking up with emotion. "It's okay. I'm here. I'm here. And I promise you I'll never leave you alone again..."

She didn't even look up. Apparently to her, his voice was just the ghost of her past, one of which she wanted- she needed- to forget. For him, seeing her like that, so broken down by the evil that one human could create, so desolate and desperate, that was the worst kind of pain he'd ever known.

"Give her time," Rick whispered. "She's been through a lot. She never quit looking for you, you know."

"This isn't Maggie. This isn't..." Glenn, his voice cracking with emotion. "I can't leave her again."

"She just needs some rest. She'll come out when she's ready. She's...she's been through a lot. When she's ready, she'll come out, she'll find you. You're here, and that's all that matters," Rick advised.

Glenn took one look at his sleeping love. He reached in his pocket, and found what it was that had given him his strength, what had kept him alive those weeks on the road. He pulled out the picture he'd once taken of Maggie, sleeping and never more beautiful to him, and laid it beside her pillow. Without saying another word, he followed Rick, where hopefully he could find some food and a place to rest his tired, aching feet.

No one said much. For the past few weeks they'd all been doing what they had to to survive, they hadn't been able to stop to even begin to process what they'd lost back at the prison. Yes, it had been a home, but they'd lost much more than that. There was a hole created that day that no one could fill, not even if they wanted to.

Glenn pulled out his pocket watch, the one Hershel had given him. He didn't deserve it anymore. He couldn't keep Hershel alive, and if he were around to see Maggie in the condition she was in, well, Glenn knew that he wouldn't have his blessing for marrying Maggie anymore. It was all too much to take in, for any of them too, for that matter.

Carol, as always, tried to provide rations for all of them. She didn't care who knew it, but she saw to it that Glenn had a somewhat bigger portion of grub that day. She knew what it was like just as much as anyone to lose the one you loved more than anyone in the world. She'd come to love Hershel as everyone else had, like he was the father figure that had also been the glue that held them all together. Not much was said that evening; not much was needed to be said. The forlorn looks among all of their faces spoke more volume than any one or two sentences put together in casual conversation ever could.

Still, they kept watch, waiting for Maggie to come around. They knew Glenn wouldn't be able to sleep until he saw with his own eyes that Maggie would be all right, well, be as all right as any of them could be, and so they held fort, just wrapping themselves in the warmth of each other's company as well as by the extremely small fire ambers that Rick had started.

Finally, Maggie came out, and it took her a few minutes to put together the pieces of where she was at. That they'd all been found. That Glenn wasn't...

He wanted to run to her, but Rick held him back. "Let her come to you," he cautioned.

Maggie, clinging to the picture that Glenn had laid beside her as she slept, looked at Glenn, unable to process what was happening. "You're alive," she said, plaintively.

He nodded, and by this time every one of them had tears in their eyes as Maggie found her way to Glenn's arms. "Tell me this isn't real...that this is all just a bad dream," she asked sullenly as she felt Glenn's arms around her.

He tried to say something, but Rick shook his head. Instead, Glenn just held her, tried to comfort her as she wept, tried to be the rock, as sickly as he still was, that she needed him to be.

Finally Tara spoke up. "Glenn...he saved my life. I didn't want to live...I felt like this was all my fault. You all probably hate me. I wouldn't blame you if you did..."

"This is probably not the time for that," Rick nodded.

But Tara pulled something out of her knapsack. "Glenn wanted me to give this to you. It's not much...it's all I have, really...but I think you'd do better with it than I could."

Maggie stared at it. It was a blanket. It was a green blanket, on top of it. She looked at Glenn, puzzled.

"I know ...I know it's not much. But it's green. You're a Greene. Your dad...was one of the best men I ever knew. I would do anything if I could...I'm so sorry, Maggie. I just want ...it doesn't matter what I want. I saw that blanket, and maybe it's stupid, but I thought...it's green and all...I thought you could feel like you had part of your dad with you. I know, it's really dumb..." Glenn looked down.

Maggie took the blanket for a minute. "I love it, Glenn. I really do." she said, barely smiling.

He looked at her in surprise. "You do?"

"When Beth and I were kids, Beth was always the more proper little girl, she loved pink and all that. But I always, always swore that green was my favorite color. Even when I was a teenager and my dad had remarried and I was rebelling something awful, shoplifting and smoking and all that, I still said that green was my favorite color. I felt like I could hold on to him just a little longer even if I felt like I was losing him. Thank you." She held on to the blanket, and everyone smiled, just a bit.

Then Maggie stared at Tara. Everyone held their breath, not knowing what was going to be said. " I could see you out in those fields. You weren't like the rest of those people. You hid, you didn't want to hurt no one. I could see that. And if you brought my Glenn back to me...I guess I should be thankin' you."

Tara didn't say anything.

"Come on, it's getting late," Rick started. "If you're up to it, Maggie and Beth...we wanted to do a proper memorial service tomorrow...it won't be much...just a few of us, speaking our minds on how much we loved your father. If it's too much, Maggie, we understand..."

"No. I want to be there. I have some things to say. I want my daddy to be remembered for the man who he was, not how he...not what happened."

Not much else was said that night, but as Glenn wrapped up next to Maggie in that green blanket that night, he vowed then and there that he would hold on to her for the rest of his life, no matter what. It was the least he could do for the man who did what so few others before him had- Hershel had believed in Glenn, and for that, Glenn would always be thankful.

tbc


End file.
